2021 Iowa Farm Ag Decision Maker Custom Rate Survey File A3-10 Many Iowa farmers hire some custom machine work in This rate schedule is intended only as a guide. Actual their farm business or perform custom work for others. custom rates may vary according to availability of Others rent machinery or perform other services. The machinery in a given area, timeliness, operator skill, field Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey was mailed to 361 people size and shape, crop conditions, and the performance characteristics of the machine being used. by the US Postal Service and 198 people via email in early February 2021. The information below is based on Note: All rates include fuel, repairs, depreciation, interest, 118 responses and 3,785 custom rates provided by Iowa labor, and all other machinery costs for the tractor and implement, unless otherwise noted. farmers, custom operators, and farm managers. Fourteen percent of the respondents perform custom work, 16% hire Percentage change by category, 2020 to 2021 work done, 45% indicated doing both, and 25% did not indicate whether they perform or hire custom work. For each type of work, the average rate from the survey, the median, and the range are shown. The average is calculated as the simple average of all responses. The median is the middle number among the ordered responses (from smallest to largest). The reported range excludes the minimum and the maximum values to avoid reporting extreme values. The reported rates are expected to be charged or paid in 2021, and they include fuel and labor (unless otherwise noted). The average price for diesel fuel was assumed to be $2.71 per gallon. Rental rates for some machinery items are shown in the last section of this report, along with a worksheet for estimating rental rates for other items. Average Median Number of Tillage Charge Charge Range Responses Chopping cornstalks, / acre $11.90 $12.00 $8.00 - $16.00 32 Moldboard plowing, / acre 18.40 19.40 14.00 - 22.00 20 Chisel plowing, / acre 17.50 18.00 10.00 - 22.50 31 Disk/chiseling, / acre 20.00 20.00 14.00 - 28.00 38 Vertical tillage, / acre 18.45 18.75 12.00 - 25.00 42 Strip tillage, / acre 20.15 20.00 16.00 - 25.00 18 - extra charge, dry bulk fertilizer, banded, no materials, / acre 3.50 4.50 1.00 - 5.00 8 - extra charge, liquid fertilizer, knifed, no materials, / acre 4.25 3.75 1.00 - 7.00 6 - extra charge, anhydrous fertilizer, no materials, / acre 2.60 2.50 1.50 - 3.00 6 Subsoiling (8 to 15 inches deep), / acre 21.00 21.50 15.00 - 25.00 24 V-ripping (over 15 inches deep), / acre 21.25 22.00 15.00 - 29.00 21 V-ripping with tandem disk, / acre 21.95 23.00 14.50 - 28.50 40 Disking, tandem, / acre 15.00 15.25 9.00 - 20.00 46 Disking, heavy or offset, / acre 17.65 19.00 13.00 - 22.00 17 Harrowing or dragging, / acre 9.75 10.00 6.00 - 14.00 17 Soil finishing, / acre 14.95 15.85 9.50 - 20.00 42 Field cultivating, / acre 15.05 15.50 8.00 - 22.00 67 Rock picking, / acre 16.40 17.50 10.00 - 25.00 18 Cultivating, conventional, / acre 12.45 14.00 8.00 - 15.00 14 Cultivating, ridge-till, / acre 15.00 14.00 12.00 - 18.00 6 Rotary hoeing, / acre 9.90 10.00 6.00 - 15.00 24 Land rolling, / acre 6.80 6.50 4.00 - 10.50 39

FM 1698 Revised March 2021 Page 2 2021 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey

Average Median Number of Planting, Drilling, and Seeding Charge Charge Range Responses Planting - with fertilizer and insecticide attachments, / acre $22.90 $23.80 $14.00 - $35.00 39 - without attachments, / acre 20.60 21.00 12.00 - 29.50 58 - with splitters and attachments, / acre 21.20 21.00 13.50 - 30.00 33 - with high-speed planter, / acre 23.25 24.00 15.00 - 30.00 27 - no-till planter, / acre 21.90 22.50 11.00 - 32.00 59 - no-till planter with splitters, / acre 22.70 22.50 14.00 - 32.00 34 - ridge till planter, / acre 24.55 24.00 18.00 - 30.00 9 Extra charge for seed shut-offs, / acre 2.10 2.00 0.50 - 5.00 55 Extra charge for variable rate seeding, / acre 2.35 2.20 0.50 - 5.00 38 Extra charge for GPS use, if used for analytics, / acre 2.20 2.00 0.50 - 4.00 30 Seed tender, / acre 2.55 2.75 0.50 - 5.00 37 Drilling soybean, / acre 18.60 18.60 13.00 - 24.00 20 Drilling soybean, no-till, / acre 19.65 20.00 13.00 - 27.00 29 Drilling grass seed, / acre 17.95 18.50 10.00 - 25.00 31 Drilling small grain, / acre 17.15 18.00 12.00 - 22.00 29 Seeding grass, broadcast with tractor, / acre 11.35 12.00 7.25 - 15.00 20 Seeding grass, broadcast with ATV, / acre 12.50 12.90 7.00 - 20.00 17 Aerial seeding of cover crop, / acre 12.40 11.25 8.00 - 18.00 24 Drilling cover crop seed, / acre 16.15 16.00 9.00 - 23.00 28

Average Median Number of Spraying (materials not included) Charge Charge Range Responses Ground, broadcast, tractor, / acre $6.55 $6.50 $5.00 - $10.00 39 Ground, incorporated, tractor, / acre 9.15 8.00 5.00 - 14.00 15 Ground, broadcast, self-propelled, / acre 7.50 7.50 4.50 - 12.00 86 Ground, banded, tractor, / acre 7.60 7.00 5.00 - 10.00 10 Ground, road ditches, / hour 60.15 70.00 20.00 - 100.00 34 Aerial, / acre 9.75 9.50 8.00 - 12.00 35

Average Median Number of Fertilizer Application (materials not included) Charge Charge Range Responses Dry bulk - applied, / acre $5.55 $6.00 $3.00 - $8.00 49 Liquid - spraying, / acre 6.70 7.00 5.00 - 8.00 23 - side dressing, / acre 11.80 12.00 6.50 - 16.00 28 Anhydrous - injecting, with tool bar, / acre 12.25 12.75 7.50 - 16.00 57 - injecting, without tool bar, / acre 10.80 10.75 7.00 - 15.00 38 Spreading lime, / ton 6.00 5.43 3.00 - 10.00 28 Average Median Number of Harvesting, Drying, and Hauling Grain Charge Charge Range Responses Corn combining, / acre $35.10 $36.00 $22.00 - $45.00 78 - with chopper head, / acre 38.90 40.00 24.00 - 58.00 52 - added charge for corn reel (downed corn), / acre 5.85 5.00 1.00 - 10.00 19 Soybean combining, / acre 34.20 35.00 22.00 - 46.00 64 - with air reel, / acre 34.45 35.00 25.00 - 44.00 19 - with draper head, / acre 37.85 39.00 23.00 - 54.00 60 Small grain combining, / acre 30.45 31.00 25.00 - 36.00 13 Complete harvesting (combine, grain cart, haul to farm storage) - Corn, / acre 52.30 52.50 32.00 - 85.00 62 - Soybean, / acre 49.90 50.50 30.00 - 80.00 58 Added charge for GPS mapping, / acre 2.50 2.50 0.50 - 5.00 45 2021 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey Page 3

Average Median Number of Harvesting, Drying, and Hauling Grain (continued) Charge Charge Range Responses Picking ear corn (seed corn), / acre 34.80 36.00 30.00 - 38.00 5 Picking ear corn (farm use), / acre 31.90 34.00 25.00 - 35.00 11 Drying corn (includes fuel, electricity, labor) - continuous flow dryer, / point per bushel $0.042 $0.040 $0.030 - $0.050 15 - bin dryer, / point per bushel 0.035 0.040 0.020 - 0.050 11 Handling grain by auger, / bushel 0.055 0.060 0.010 - 0.100 38 Hauling grain - grain cart, corn, / acre 5.80 6.00 1.00 - 12.00 58 - grain cart, soybean, / acre 5.05 5.40 1.00 - 8.00 52 - to farm storage, wagon, / bushel 0.068 0.060 0.035 - 0.100 28 - farm storage to market, wagon, / bushel 0.086 0.090 0.035 - 0.120 20 - to market, truck, (5 miles, 1-way trip), / bushel 0.101 0.100 0.050 - 0.180 60 - to market, truck, (25 miles, 1-way trip), / bushel 0.156 0.160 0.050 - 0.250 61 - to market, truck, (100 miles, 1-way trip), / bushel 0.298 0.320 0.120 - 0.450 35

Average Median Number of Harvesting Forages Charge Charge Range Responses Hay - mowing, / acre $11.35 $10.00 $8.00 - $15.00 19 - conditioning, / acre 12.00 12.00 10.00 - 13.00 10 - mowing/conditioning, / acre 15.15 15.00 12.00 - 20.00 29 - raking, / acre 7.60 8.00 5.00 - 10.00 28 - windrowing, / acre 14.50 15.00 9.00 - 18.00 14 - tedding, / acre 6.70 6.00 5.00 - 8.00 13 Swathing hay or small grain, / acre 13.65 13.50 12.00 - 16.00 6 Hay baling - small square bales, / bale 0.59 0.60 0.40 - 0.80 16 - large square bales, / bale 9.35 8.50 8.00 - 11.00 6 - large round bales without wrap, / bale 10.80 10.50 8.00 - 14.00 14 - large round bales with wrap, / bale 13.20 13.00 11.00 - 16.00 36 Straw or corn stalk baling - large round or square bales without wrap, / bale 12.45 12.00 9.00 - 18.00 14 - large round or square bales with wrap, / bale 13.95 13.75 11.00 - 20.00 32 Moving large round bales to storage, / bale 2.95 2.75 2.00 - 5.00 14 Moving large square bales to storage, / bale 2.30 2.00 2.00 - 3.00 9 Haul round bales by truck or trailer, / bale, / loaded mile 0.18 0.24 0.07 - 0.25 7 Silage - chopping, / hour, / head row 79.70 64.06 50.00 - 112.50 6 - chopping, / ton 7.10 6.78 6.00 - 8.00 6 Filling silage bags, / foot of bag 8.80 8.50 8.00 - 9.50 5 Earlage or snaplage - chopping, / acre 64.75 62.50 55.00 - 75.00 8

Custom Farming (tillage, planting, pest control, Average Median Number of harvesting, and hauling to farm, no drying) Charge Charge Range Responses Corn, / acre $127.25 $130.00 $75.00 - $240.00 53 Soybean, / acre 115.60 115.00 70.00 - 220.00 51 Small grain, / acre 103.85 110.00 80.00 - 122.00 7

Average Median Number of Farm Labor Wages for Operating Machinery Charge Charge Range Responses Spraying or harvesting, / hour $18.95 $18.40 $12.00 - $35.00 65 Other operations, / hour 17.60 17.00 12.00 - 35.00 74 Page 4 2021 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey

Miscellaneous Services Average Median Number of (labor, fuel, and equipment included) Charge Charge Range Responses Removing snow (loader), / hour $75.30 $79.00 $45.00 - $100.00 28 Removing snow (blade), / hour / foot of blade 7.70 6.67 5.63 - 10.42 9 Removing snow (blower), / hour / foot of blower 15.45 17.78 7.50 - 20.00 13 Tub grinding hay, / hour 255.00 250.00 150.00 - 400.00 9 Tub grinding hay, / ton 11.90 12.25 10.00 - 14.50 4 Spreading liquid manure, injected, / 1,000 gallon 13.35 14.25 10.00 - 17.00 18 Applying liquid manure with drag line, / 1,000 gallon 11.65 10.00 10.00 - 15.00 11 Loading solid manure, / hour 78.00 87.50 50.00 - 100.00 10 Loading, spreading solid manure, / ton 4.95 5.00 3.25 - 7.00 9 Loading, spreading solid manure, / hour 130.00 125.00 75.00 - 190.00 10 Power washing, / hour 47.55 50.00 40.00 - 58.00 13 Building fence, barbed (no materials), / hour 16.75 15.00 15.00 - 20.00 10 Building fence, barbed (no materials), / rod 10.80 10.00 10.00 - 12.00 7 Building fence, woven/barbed (no materials), / hour 16.15 15.00 15.00 - 20.00 6 Building fence, woven/barbed (no materials), / rod 11.60 10.00 10.00 - 13.00 5 Scouting crops, / acre 3.70 4.00 2.00 - 5.00 13 Scouting crops with drone, / acre 3.30 3.25 2.00 - 4.00 10 Scouting crops with fixed wings aircraft, / acre 2.40 2.50 2.00 - 3.00 4 Soil testing, / sample 4.15 4.00 3.00 - 5.00 8 GPS grid soil testing, / acre 6.75 6.38 4.00 - 11.00 16 Managing stored grain, / bushel 0.05 0.05 0.01 - 0.10 14 Vacuuming grain, / bushel 0.10 0.10 0.03 - 0.18 26 Livestock hauling with trailer, / loaded mile 2.55 2.50 2.00 - 3.50 9 Livestock hauling with semi truck, / loaded mile 3.55 3.50 3.25 - 4.25 9 Bulldozing, / hour, / foot of blade 11.85 12.50 6.67 - 15.83 17 Digging post holes, / hole 3.55 3.00 3.00 - 4.00 7 Driving steel fence posts, / post 1.00 1.00 1.00 - 1.00 4 Trenching, / foot 1.60 1.88 0.85 - 2.00 10 Tiling, tiling machine (excluding materials), / foot 1.00 1.00 0.50 - 2.00 18 Tiling, tile plow (excluding materials), / foot 0.79 0.70 0.45 - 1.25 16 Backhoeing, / hour 94.45 80.00 60.00 - 160.00 19 Clearing land, / hour 144.60 150.00 125.00 - 160.00 12 Chain sawing, / hour 64.40 65.00 40.00 - 100.00 17 Welding machinery, / hour 65.00 70.00 40.00 - 90.00 17 Mowing CRP or pasture, / acre 19.20 20.00 10.00 - 28.00 37 Controlled burning of grass, CRP, pasture, / acre 20.65 22.50 5.00 - 40.00 16 Mowing fence rows, ditches, / hour 66.35 72.50 20.00 - 100.00 26 Mowing lawns, / hour 45.50 49.00 18.50 - 65.00 20 Chopping brush, / acre 33.20 30.00 25.00 - 45.00 11 Using truck scale, / load weighed 2.15 2.25 1.00 - 3.00 6

Average Median Number of Bin Rental Charge Charge Range Responses Storing grain, bin rental, / bushel / month $0.031 $0.025 $0.010 - $0.100 26 Storing grain, bin rental, / bushel / year 0.148 0.120 0.100 - 0.250 40 2021 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey Page 5

Machine Rental Average Median Number of (operator, tractor, and fuel not included) Charge Charge Range Responses Tractor, / horsepower, / hour $0.24 $0.25 $0.16 - $0.30 17 Grain drill, / acre 10.30 10.00 8.00 - 12.00 12 No-till soybean drill, / acre 13.35 14.00 11.00 - 15.00 10 Corn head for combine, / acre 9.80 10.00 8.00 - 12.00 11 Soybean head for combine, / acre 10.35 10.00 8.00 - 12.00 10 Grain cart with auger, corn, / acre 5.85 5.50 2.50 - 8.00 12 Grain cart with auger, soybean, / acre 5.80 5.50 4.00 - 7.50 10 Grain truck (semi), / bushel, / round trip 0.08 0.09 0.05 - 0.12 4 Grain auger, / bushel 0.06 0.07 0.04 - 0.08 6 Grain vacuum, / bushel 0.11 0.10 0.05 - 0.15 13 Solid manure spreader, / hour 52.50 55.00 50.00 - 60.00 4 Skid loader, / hour 58.75 60.00 40.00 - 75.00 12 Dry bulk fertilizer applicator, / acre 5.25 5.50 4.50 - 6.00 8 Liquid fertilizer applicator, / acre 6.65 6.50 5.00 - 7.00 6 Anhydrous fertilizer applicator, / acre 6.00 5.50 2.00 - 10.00 10 Power washer, / hour 37.50 37.50 35.00 - 40.00 4 Generator, / hour 45.70 50.00 40.00 - 50.00 7

Example: Estimating a machinery rental rate for items not surveyed Tandem Disk The following worksheet can be used to estimate a rental value for equipment items not shown above. 1. Custom charge (includes labor, fuel, tractor) $______/acre $15.00 2. Percent of custom charge that is for interest, insurance, depreciation, and repairs (to exclude fuel and labor) x ______% x 60% (use 60% for tillage, 65% for planting and harvesting) 3. Rental value, for tractor and implement (1 x 2) = $______/acre = $9.00 4. Tractor rental value, if tractor is not provided: ______HP x $______per hp-hour rental rate (see above) / ______acres/hour1/ = – $______/acre – $2.40 Ex: 150 HP x $.24 (per hp-hour rental rate) / 15 acres/hour = $2.40 5. Implement rental value, without tractor (3 minus 4) = $______/acre = $6.60/acre 1/ Typical values for acres covered per hour can be found in AgDM File A3-24, Estimating the Field Capacity of Farm Machines, www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/crops/pdf/a3-24.pdf

More on estimating machinery costs and machinery management can be found on the Ag Decision Maker website, www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/cdmachinery.html. The information available in the Custom Rate Survey is only possible due to the responses provided each year. If you are interested in joining the 2022 Custom Rate Survey mailing list, send mail or email address to: Alejandro Plastina, Iowa State University, Department of Economics, 478E Heady Hall, 518 Farm House Lane, Ames, IA 50011-1054, 515-294-6160, [email protected].

Prepared by Alejandro Plastina, extension economist [email protected] Ann Johanns, extension program specialist Ayah Gleisner, Avery Qualman, student assistants This institution is an equal opportunity provider. For Additional machinery management the full non-discrimination statement or accommodation publications are available at: inquiries, go to www.extension.iastate.edu/diversity/ext. www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm store.extension.iastate.edu/